They Call Me Kaitlin Munroe
by PandaGirlPlaysTheTuba
Summary: They call me Kaitlin Munroe. Or at least, they used to. Before the Outbreak, before I was forced to run from the place I called home, before my survival depended on my ability to adapt and react. And in these dark days, nothing is safe anymore. Humans have become the hunted. The zombie apocalypse. It used to be a joke. A theme for movies and stories. Not anymore. Rick/OC RickxOC
1. Better Off Alone

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead. I'm way too uncreative to own something so magnificent. But I **_**do **_**own Kaitlin, Mickey, and any other OC/unexpected plot twist, so if you want to use them, please give credit in whatever setting you do!**

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><p>"If you don't like it, then leave!"<p>

"Fine."

"What?"

"I said fine. I'm leaving." I grabbed my backpack and stood up.

"Kait, wait, I didn't-" Mickey pleaded, grabbing my leg.

"Mean it? Yes, you did." I said coldly.

"Babe, please-"

"Don't you 'babe' me! You left those people to die, Mickey! If I hadn't intervened, they'd be _dead."_ I snarled. I was fucking sick and tired of this. I could do better on my own.

"We have to think about _ourselves!"_ He snapped, jumping up.

"Well, congratulations, asshole. Now all you have to worry about is _you." _I turned and slung the backpack over my shoulders and grabbed my bow and quiver. I fastened the quiver to my thigh and started walking.

"Kait, please, I can't survive without you." Mickey tried.

"Tough." I didn't even look back. I walked away from the light of the solar-rechargeable lamp and headed through the forest in the direction we'd come from. There was a cabin off the side of the road I could scout out.

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><p>I woke up, opening my eyes as I heard a faint noise.<p>

"_Shit!" _I hissed and grabbed my bow, stringing an arrow and pointing it at the door. I'd heard footsteps outside in the hall. The cabin was empty, something I'd been grateful for last night, but apparently not anymore.

I slowly got to my feet, cautiously walking closer to the door. I winced when the aged wooden boards beneath my feet creaked and the footsteps paused. They started up and got closer to the door. I braced myself to face a hideous, grotesque face with rotted flesh hanging from it and between its teeth if they were still there.

Instead, the door banged open, and I was face-to-face with a man holding a crossbow. We stood silently for a few moments, dealing with our shock and assessing each other. He was the first to break the silence.

"Who're you?" He asked with a definite accent.

"I could ask you the same." I retorted, not lowering my weapon. Just because the world had ended, didn't mean that people had changed. There were still other monsters out there, wearing human disguises.

"I asked first." He said.

"I was here first." I argued. He hesitated, and then lowered his bow.

"Name's Daryl. Daryl Dixon." He said.

"Kaitlin Munroe." I replied, lowering my own weapon.

"Nice bow." I commented.

"You too. Know how to use it?" He nodded towards my slack arrow.

"I can shoot a bird through the eye out of the sky." I said confidently, if not a bit smugly.

"Not often I meet another human." He said.

"Me neither. Less often they're friendly." I nodded warily. I stepped back and grabbed my pack, shouldering it without removing my eyes from him. He stepped aside so I could leave the room. I waved for him to go first, still distrustful. He turned his back, and I followed him into the main room.

"Nice meetin' you, Daryl Dixon." I said as I headed for the door.

"You too, Kaitlin Munroe. Hope you don't get bit." He said.

"Me too." I answered honestly. And then I was gone.

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><p><strong>Okay, so, first fanfic! I dunno how it's gonna go, but <strong>**I'm just playing around with chapter length right now. This is about one and a third pages in Word. Yay! I'm a very flaky person when it comes to stories, so I don't know how long I'll keep writing this. I've heard that reviews are like an author's lifeblood, so I don't know about they would affect my will to write, but based on other A.N.'s, the more reviews the better!**

**-PandaGirlPlaysTheTuba**


	2. Saved By The Asian

**Aaand, I'm back! Thanks to shika93 for reviewing and giving me the will to churn out another chapter. I'll try and type at least four or five pages this time, but no promises. And sorry if there's any OOCness, but remember this is my first published fanfic. Constructive criticism is welcomed, but remember the purpose of it is to help make the story better by giving me tips. And be specific! Panda out.**

**Disclaimer: This is what the first chapter is for. :-)**

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><p><em><strong>Three days later.<strong>_

"God_damn."_ I coughed as the dust settled. That beam had nearly taken my head off. Unfortunately, a lot of buildings had fallen into disrepair since the residents were mostly concerned with eating anything living nowadays. I dragged myself to my feet and winced when I settled my weight on my left ankle. Damn.

"Okay, Kait, you've gotten worse than a sprained ankle. Just remember P.E. Actually no, don't think about that." I grimaced. High school physical education had been one of my worse subjects. I looked around to see if the noise had drawn any of those things. I hadn't seen any when I'd done a general scouting of the neighborhood, but then again, those damn things had a knack for jumping out at me. Nothing moved or made a sound. I felt uncomfortable.

Without humans, the world sure was a quiet place. No cars, no voices – often – no slamming of door, honking of horns, or even slapping of footsteps against the ground. It wasn't until all that was gone until I realized how much I missed it. It meant I wasn't as alone as I was right now. I had never gotten along well with people in the first place, thanks to my nonexistent social skills. Maybe it's why I had survived as long as I had. My parents had died when I was young – I never even knew my father – and I hadn't really formed a relationship with my Aunt Tulah. I was mostly just withdrawn. I used to think I preferred the silence, but now I just yearned to hear another voice.

"Hello?" I blinked. My imagination sure had gotten strong if I was literally hearing voices outside of my head. I shook it off and picked up my bow, heading for the door. The beam had fallen as I was entering the kitchen, barring any access to whatever measly supplies had been in there the first place. Oh well. There were plenty more houses on the block. I hated scavenging in the suburban areas – too many places to hide – but it was necessary when all the solitary houses were picked clean. One didn't just come across a fully stocked and defendable cabin in the middle of the woods. But good god, how I wished one did.

The floorboards creaked, and I jerked my bow up, aiming towards the noise. It had come from down the hall, near the door. I skittered back around the corner and flattened myself against the wall, keeping my bow down, but ready. My heart pounded, and I felt the adrenaline beginning the tingle through my veins. It was like this every time. Every goddamn time. It was always the same question. Would I survive? Would this be the ghoul to take me to hell?

I listened for another creak, took a deep breath, and swung around the corner. Again, I was surprised to see a healthy rugged face instead of the half-gone, rotted one of a ghoul. I was finding an awful lot of humans lately.

"Kait?" He spoke, frowning and lowering his bow slightly. I frowned. Did I know…?

"Daryl?" I finally guessed. I thought that was his name. I didn't really remember too well.

"One and only know that the rest of 'em are probably dead." He snorted. I relaxed slightly, squinting my eyes at him.

"Are you following me?" I asked. I was afraid of the answer.

"Nah. Jus' headin' in the same direction, I s'pose. Going anywhere specific?" He lowered his crossbow fully, prompting me to do the same.

"Look, Daryl, you seem like a nice guy as far as end-of-the-world guys go, but I don't trust you as far as I can throw you." I said bluntly. I'd seen plenty of 'nice guys' even before human civilization had come grinding to a halt.

"Far enough. See you 'round, Kait." He jutted his chin at me.

"I'd say 'doubt it' but I might just jinx myself." I let a small smile curl the corners of my mouth. As poor as Mickey was for companionship, he still had been another human being, and I missed the interaction, as introverted as I used to think I'd been. He smirked, returning the humor. I passed him and exited the house, casting my eyes around the neighborhood. I think it would be too weird and distracting to scavenge while I knew someone else was here, and I preferred my full attention on these trips, so I faced towards the street that led further into the town and got walking.

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><p>This time I was fucked. I knew it. I stayed out of the damn cities for a reason. The more that had been living here before the Outbreak, the more that would be prowling for human flesh as ghouls. I cursed foully and glanced around the alley for a way out. I spotted a door and jiggled the handle. Locked, and it looked pretty sturdy. Guess I'd have to get through the crowd of ghouls reaching for me with their rotting, jagged fingers. Five could hardly be considered a crowd, but when just one could rip me to pieces if I wasn't alert, I'd say that five was a mother-trucking <em>stadium's <em>worth during the Super Bowl.

I knew my bow was useless right now, but my arrows were still pretty formidable. I was always disappointed in movies and video games when nobody used the arrows to stab things. I drew one from my thigh quiver and jabbed the steel tip through the eye socket of one ghoul that was _way _too close for comfort. There was a reason I preferred distance with my bow.

I danced out of the reach of one and right into another's stabbing it before it could sink its teeth into my arm. This one used to be a woman, a pregnant one judging by its swollen belly that brushed my hip as I jerked my arrow out of its limp corpse. I shuddered as I thought of what happened to the baby. Had it become a living corpse? Had it died? I pushed the thought away. Now was _not _the time, nor was there ever going to _be _one. The subject creeped me out too much.

I grunted as I disabled another ghoul. I couldn't really call it 'killing' if they were already dead. Then again, a lot of things had changed since the dead started walking and eating the living. Two left. I yelled and shoved one back, making it stumble into the other and both of them fall, but it wouldn't be long before they were back up. I ran forward and stabbed the first one through the eye, then the other.

I stumbled back, panting. Five truly dead corpses were littered around me, congealed black blood oozing from their punctured sockets. Tears started dripping down my face as I realized I'd never get used to this. The shock, the guilt, the _fear _would always be there. They used to be people. People just wanting to survive, like me, like anyone else. And now I was forced to kill whatever remained of them just for my own survival. I think I just needed a good cry. These had been the first tears since I'd found my Aunt's body half-eaten in the living room and killed my first ghoul. Meaningful relationship or not, I'd still _known _her, and _cared _about her.

Too bad fate had other ideas. I heard the shuffling and moaning of more ghouls. A _lot _more.

_Fuck my life. _I thought wearily. I pushed myself to my feet and wiped the arrow on one of the corpse's clothes, drawing my bow and stringing the same arrow towards the entrance of the alley. I was ready to see four or five more, maybe six or seven if life was really that cruel.

However, my eyes widened and my heart skipped a good few beats as an honest crowd of ghouls clogged the alley. There were too many to count as my eyes flashed from one to the next. They spotted me, growling and sputtering as they reached for me, eager to rip me to pieces. I started panicking, my breath getting faster and hands getting shaky. There was no _beginning _to hope I made it out of this alive.

I stumbled backwards, tripping over the once-pregnant corpse of the woman. Her remaining dead eye, cloudy and glazed, stared at me like the cover of a horror movie, chilling and all-too-real. I dropped my bow, scrambling backwards until my back hit the steps that led to the door and cowering in fear. I didn't want to die. I didn't. No matter how sucky life got, I still wanted to live it.

I heard a dull click, the creak of rusty metal, and then a pair of hands was dragging me up the steps and inside the door. Despite myself, I screamed, even knowing it wouldn't do anything but rile those things up even more. A hand was clamped over my mouth, and I thrashed and struggled, but to no avail. The hands were surprisingly firm and held me down as the door was slammed shut and the click of a deadbolt was heard once more.

"Shut up. There's more around front trying to get in." A voice hissed in my ear. I glanced up in shock to see an Asian boy's face. What the hell was up with all these survivors all of the sudden? I nodded, and he released me, stepping away from the door. I realized it sounded pretty ghastly with the ghouls trying to get in, and scooted back myself just in case the door really gave. I doubted it would, but 'better safe than sorry' had been sounding pretty appealing lately.

I stood up and brushed myself off, facing the new guy. He was younger than me by about five years, maybe. Twenty at the youngest, twenty three at the oldest. I was twenty six last time I checked. I wasn't sure if my birthday had passed yet or not.

"I'm Glenn." He said after a few seconds of awkward silence – sans the moaning dead just outside.

"Kaitlin. Kaitlin Munroe. Uh, thanks. For…y'know, saving my life 'n all." Ah yes, what sophisticated people skills I had. I really impressed myself sometimes. Not. I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly.

"No problem. Listen, we should move away from the door…" He trailed off, eyes straying to said object behind me. I jerked as if slapped.

"My bow. Fuck, fuck, fuck, _fuuuck…" _I covered my face, unable to believe how much of an idiot I was.

"What?" Glenn asked.

"My bow, my weapon. I dropped it when I started panicking." I sighed, tugging my hair in defeat.

"Well, you should probably forget about it. Not to be mean or anything, but-"

"No, no, you're right. I just… Nevermind, let's just go." I shook my head. Maybe I really would get my cry after all. He led me upstairs to a hall containing three doors, one of which was open and light was spilling out. I followed him inside to see a bed and several supplies scattered across it, mostly ammo and food. I whistled.

"I'm on a supply run for my group, so…yeah. If you need bandages or food or anything, feel free to take it." He offered. I eyed the Hershey's bar. Chocolate. I reached for it, then hesitated and looked at Glenn.

"May I?" I still remembered my manners, even when most didn't nowadays.

"Oh, sure, go ahead. I'm not really much of a chocolate fan, but I thought it might be a treat for the kids." He shrugged. I felt bad and withdrew my hand. Damn him, mentioning kids.

"Don't worry, I already have, like, three more somewhere." He insisted. I pursed my lips and finally grabbed the bar of pure unhealthiness. Screw unhealthy, I burned enough calories just _surviving _as I did to warrant any damned food I wanted. Well, and had access to in the first place. The donuts' and pastries' aisles were oddly empty whenever I scavenged in stores.

I tore open the wrapper and broke off a chunk, savoring the stale candy as it melted on my tongue.

"Glenn, I will love you forever." I groaned as I ate another chunk. He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck as he closed the door and started putting everything in an empty bag by how heavy it was. The ammo went in the side pockets for easy access. I found myself eyeing one of the two handguns he had, wishing for the ease of a gun. Just point and shoot. Then again, I didn't know the first thing about shooting guns. And they made more noise than they were worth.

_But that's what they make silencers for. _I argued with myself. I started arguing the pros and cons of a gun with myself.

"Hey, do you want a gun?" Glenn's voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked down in disappointment to find the chocolate had been eaten. Oh well.

"Oh, uh, no. I don't know the first thing about guns." I laughed awkwardly.

"You can shoot a bow, yet not even know a single thing about guns?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Well, I went to a shooting range once with my Aunt. Let's just say I never felt the need to find out how much damage I could do in an uncontrolled environment." I crossed my arms defensively, blushing. Glenn laughed, and I glared at him. I found him comforting, probably because he was just so easy to be comfortable around. Or maybe it was because he'd saved my life and didn't want to eat me or steal my supplies.

_Yeah, sadly enough, that's a problem with most people I see. _I mentally sighed. I chewed on my lip; thinking about when the worst people ever did to me was sneer and move on. Yeah, that sucked and was seriously damaging to my self-esteem, but at least I wasn't physically harmed in the process.

"Hey, we should get to sleep. I mean, it's getting pretty dark, and those things only get worse when it's dark." Glenn lifted a heavy curtain and peeked out at the rapidly darkening sky. I realized that I'd probably have to actually sleep. I'd been skipping sleep in favor of staying awake in case I was attacked, and it was showing. Dark bags had formed under my eyes, normally pale skin even more pale, and a thinning frame, though that probably also had something to do with not having the ability to just waltz out to the store and get whatever I wanted without also putting myself on the menu for whatever happened to be lurking around.

"Yeah… I guess." I murmured. Glenn _had _saved my life and all, but I was still guarded. He caught my indecisive mood.

"Hey, I can take one of the other rooms if you want. There's a bed in the room just across the hall. You can lock the door and do whatever." He shrugged, shouldering his bag.

"No, I think I'd feel safer if I knew you were in here with me, it's just…I had a hard time trusting anyone before since I was so introverted, and now I'm straight up paranoid." I smiled grimly.

"It's fine, I get it. I'll take the floor." He grabbed a pillow and sheet from the closet.

"Glenn, don't-"

"Hey, don't worry about it, Kait. If sleeping on the floor is too unbearable, I've got some issues." He interrupted.

"…Fine. I guess I'll see you in the morning?" I sat down, setting my backpack and quiver on the floor and kicking my boots off, then pushing it all under the bed. Glenn settled the sheet on the floor against the opposite wall and laid the pillow down, kicking his shoes off as well. He laid down and looked up at the ceiling.

"Yeah." He responded, turning the camping light off. I laid in the dark, unable to sleep. My mind was whirling, and I went back to our first conversation.

"Hey, Glenn?" I whispered, feeling somehow rude.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"You know how you mentioned a group and kids?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. Wanna meet them? I'm sure they'd like you." He said thoughtfully.

"I think I'd like that." I said, rolling on my side facing away from him and closing my eyes. Kids. As is more than one. I'd never been much of a kid-person before, but I missed seeing an innocent face after a while. One untainted by the hardships of life. I didn't know how much that image would be tarnished in this new, harsh world, but I still missed seeing a young face anyway. If a kid could survive the zombie apocalypse, surely anyone could.

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><p><strong>Nine pages! Nine! Be proud of me! That's four pages over the most I expected of myself. When I write, the story gets away from me sometimes, and it just seems to write itself, which I'm not complaining about <strong>_**at all.**_** Anyway, thanks again to shika93, whose review I saw twenty eight minutes after he/she sent it. Anyway, I started this chapter roughly 21:40 (11:40 pm) and finished at 01:18 (am) the next day, technically. Whew! I deserve cookies! So send them to me in the form of reviews! Every review equals the inspiration to drag my lazy butt to the computer and type out another chapter for the sake of good Rick/OC fanfics (because we all know there are far too few). I'll get around to the actual Rick/OC part soon, I promise! Maybe in the next…two, three?...chapters. Yeah, around there. Sorry for any grammar mistakes or otherwise, it's 01:20 (I'm using 24-hour time, so just take it at face value when there's a zero in front of the first number or subtract twelve when it's over…well, twelve. Actually, just Google it, I'm horrible at explaining it) so bear with me, people. **

**-PandaGirlPlaysTheTuba 3**


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